Has anybody else had a problem with the rear hatch latch freezing up....

Last night i left work and put my bags in the rear using the hatch, and tried to close it and the latch would not latch, it was a balmy -9 below before windshield ...

just wondering if anybody else has had this problem, i only have 2400 miles on my TC and need to know if i have to take it in...

i did get the latch to work after i got home and put it in the heated garage...

thanks for any input...

 

Yeah, I've had this problem since the SECOND DAY I had my car. I brought it to the dealer the day after Thanksgiving, and a replacement latch STILL hasn't come in. They relocked it and told me not to use the hatch (thanks, guys).

And, I did notice it's more likely to happen in colder weather. But, it happens in weather as warm as 35.

Definitely get it looked at ASAP. If it's a problem on this car, they need to be aware of it (plus we need our hatchs to work!!!)

-Steven-

 

heh, my hood latch froze when I was out of windshield wiper fluid... wasn't fun to drive at 0ºF with a frozen windshield for 20-30 minutes until the heater could melt it all.

=\

 

I had my back door latch freeze up on my corolla 3 years ago (temp was around 0 F before windchill) But it has only happened once, since 1998.

The cold is hard on cars in general.

 

My gas door was frozen shut lol, but I just used my credit card to free the ice and it opened.....man do I hate ice. I hope mine doesn't freeze.

 

Another tip is to use rubbing alcohol on the frozen keyhole. Clears it immediately.

Kevin

 

This has happened to me twice now. Both times it was below freezing. I need to have the dealer look at it; until then I'm not going to use the hatch if it's real cold out.

 

simple fix wd-40 and silicone spray don't forget to spray the door seals with the silicone spray that way your door won't freeze shut

 

it was 20 in my garage but with wind chill outside was like 0...
It did freeze alittle, but it opened partially. so i closed it and pulled a little t get it open
same thing happened to my passenger and driver side doors...
and the moon/sunroof slider thing froze up too...
lol so i keep it in the garage now...

 

I thought about lubing it but I think I'll let the dealer take care of it.

I'm not sure anything is really freezing, something just isn't working right in the cold. I could close the little C shaped part in the lock closed with my finger (you can't close the hatch with the lock like that though) but it wouldn't close itself like it's supposed to. It finally closed after pressing down really hard on the hatch. Either a part in the lock isn't working or it needs a minor adjustment.

 

yes definitely spray silcone (try not to get it on the plastic) on a towel and then apply it all to the weatherstripping..

was it that the hatch was stuck? or the power latch really didn't operate?

 

Why do people think that the wind chill will do something to your car. It's the temperature outside. Wind chill affects humans, not cars. If they do, please someone find some technological explaining for it for me somewhere.

 

I've had that damn problem twice now, and this time i had to drive home with out the hatch being shut all the way .... stupid car....

its the hatches latch thats not locking when the hatch is shut all the way ....

I'm taking it streight to the dealer ship ... i shouldn't have these problems after only 2700 miles...

 

In response to DJ Rejected:

Wind chill effect is directly proportional to a body’s thermal mass and temperature difference between the body and the surrounding medium.

The wind drives the temperature down based on how well the body retains heat.
The wind will remove surrounding (higher temp) air from the body which acts as a Qazi insulator. [one can think of how when a car overheats you turn the heat on which removes the heat from ARROUND the engine and thus reduces the temp]

Wind chill is calculated based on how well human skin retains heat not metal.

Metal retains heat much better then our skin does therefore it is true that windchill does apply to other objects but does not have effects as drastic as for human skin

 

This just happened to me also. Nothing is really frozen as far as I can tell. The hatch works exactly as it always does but the latch does not... well, latch. You can close it but it just lifts right back up. I drove home with it like that and it came open a little a couple of times but then went back down to the closed position. Btw it was 7 degrees at the time if anyone is keeping track of temps when this happens.

 

The only way wind chill affects cars is that it speeds up how quickly the car cools down once you turn it off. It does not affect things like door locks freezing up.

It affects humans so much because the wind causes evaporative cooling of the skin on top of the air temperature being cold to begin with.

 

It happend to my car too... it was about 10 degrees out, w/ a wind chill of -10 degrees. I opened it and it wouldn't close back, it took me manually locking and unlocking the lever with a pencil to thaw whatever the problem was... needless to say... it was friggin cold as hell outside... hopefully there is a good explination for this problem... :D

 

Last winter, when I had my Previa, the sliding side door was frozen shut. This actually happened a lot during the cold months. My normal solution was to climb into the back from the front seat and kick the door until it opened. Maybe you should try that technique. ^_^

Oh, and one day I just tried pulling really hard on the outside handle, and the damn thing snapped off in my hand. I would not suggest doing that if you ever have a minivan...